A balanced, wholesome healthy eating plan with good variety is vital to your health and greatly contributes to your overall wellbeing. However, a good nutrition plan is only half of the journey to your well-being and healthy weight loss.
Your physical activity and your circadian rhythm influence the quality of your sleep. The quality of your sleep affects your hormones and your hormones affect your metabolism. Your metabolism determines how your body processes all the nutrients and calories you intake.
When it all works in delicately perfect harmony the result is a more energetic and healthier feeling with a sustainable weight loss.
Below are the top 5 lifestyle elements that can support your new optimised nutrition plan, resulting in wellness, and successful weight loss.
Exercise & Movement
Try to do at least 30 minutes of light to moderate exercise every day such as swimming, walking, cycling. You do not need to belong to a gym to exercise, however, if you enjoy going to the gym that is great – stick to it.
If the weather permits it, exercise outdoors – preferably earlier on the day – to reset your circadian rhythm to help regulate your sleep.
If you have not done much exercising before start gradually – with baby steps. What I observe sometimes is that individuals embark on an overambitious fitness regime which ends up with an exhausted and exasperated person who fails to continue their exercise plan and it all ends up in disappointment.
Give yourself time to get used to being physically active and build up your fitness endurance gradually and that way you will enjoy it more, and do it more, and burn more fat, become leaner and stronger!
Good quality sleep
Try to sleep for 7-8 hours per day, regularly, don’t try to catch up on your sleep at the weekends. A poor-quality sleep affects weight management and well-being adversely.
The less sleep you have the less recovery time your body cells have to recover from the daily activities and oxidative stress and this results in accelerated aging and reduced immune system response.
In addition, poor sleep is linked to reduced focus, poor cognitive ability, and impaired decision-making process. When we are tired, we make unhealthy food choices, we drink more caffeinated drinks, eat more comfort foods to help us stay alert and focused but to no avail. With poor quality sleep, a weight loss program can not be healthy.
.If you need help on sleep issues this can be discussed during one of our consultations. To find out how lifestyle choices impact the quality of sleep click here.
Self-care
Do something you enjoy doing every day for at least 30 minutes. This could be listening to music, journaling, having a pampering bath or massage, or meeting with a like-minded friend. It is very easy to get bogged down with daily tasks – take a break and rest yourself for functioning optimally.
Stress management
When you are under stress – take a moment and prioritise your tasks. Practice mindfulness in the form of yoga, deep breathing exercises, and meditation.
When we are under stress, we tend to breathe shallowly and starve our cells of oxygen.
Whether you are at your desk working, or shopping outside, practice deep breathing to promote relaxation.
When under stress, avoid stimulants such as coffee, alcohol, and sugary drinks – it will only make the situation worse. If you need help with stress and time management, relaxation tools and techniques like this can be discussed during one of our consultations.
Connectedness and Support
As they say ‘friends keep friends healthy’. Find your wellness tribe who have a similar attitude towards healthy lifestyle choices like you. This can help achieve health goals, help each other cope with stress and maintain motivation throughout your wellness and weight program.
